BEEVILLE — Bee County lost one of its hardest-working and most beloved citizens on Aug. 14 when farmer Donald Randall “Don” Sugarek was killed in a one-vehicle rollover near Seguin.

Highway Patrol Sgt. Robert Haiyasoso, who investigated the accident, confirmed that the accident happened on Interstate Highway 10 in Guadalupe County late that afternoon.

The sergeant said there was evidence at the scene that the 71-year-old farmer had taken evasive action while driving at a part of the highway where the speed limit was 75 mph.

According to the trooper, Sugarek obviously lost control of the vehicle and left the roadway, rolling the 2013 Ford F-250 at least three times before it came to rest.

Sugarek was ejected from the vehicle.

Haiyasoso said there were no witnesses. The victim was dead at the scene.

Sugarek was a member of the Providence Presbyterian Church at 902 N. Polk St. in Beeville. His funeral was held at Beeville’s First Baptist Church.

Gary Hitzfeld, who was a ruling elder at the church along with Sugarek, said the service was held at First Baptist because the congregation at Providence Presbyterian felt their small church would not be able to hold the number of mourners who were expected to attend. The church members were right about that.

Parked cars circled the First Baptist Church for blocks during the service where Pastor George Lacy officiated.

Hitzfeld said he had known Sugarek only three years, since joining the Beeville church.

He said he and Sugarek were the only two elders serving the church and because Hitzfeld lives in Cuero, Sugarek was the man who ended up doing most of the work around the facility.

“He was a very hard-working, dependable, godly churchman,” Hitzfeld said. “He loved his family, the Sugareks, and his church family. It’s a big hole in our church for sure.”

Surgarek also will be missed by the folks at the Bee County Farm Bureau where he was on the board of directors from 1980 until 1994.

He maintained a farm west of town near the Beeville Municipal Airport until recently and then went to work as a Texas Farm Bureau field man.